Why do many people oppose the use of coal ash?
Nearly two years after Constellation Energy was fined $1 million for contaminating the wells of some Gambrills residents by dumping coal ash, the company is seeking a new local repository for residue from its coal-burning power plants – an industrial landfill in Southeast Baltimore. But the plan to deposit up to 650,000 tons of ash a year in a chemical company landfill at Hawkins Point is generating opposition from northern Anne Arundel County residents, who live south and southwest of the industrial area. They fear that the ash, which would contain a variety of toxic substances, may blow into their neighborhoods or foul the Patapsco River less than a mile away. The landfill is operated by Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, which has a pigment manufacturing plant near the Key Bridge. The company has applied for a state permit to accept up to 7.4 million tons of coal ash from Constellation’s Brandon Shores, C.P. Crane and H.A. Wagner plants on a 65-acre tract in Hawkins Point. Constellatio
